Casting-off bur for circular-knitting machines.



R. W. GORMLY.- CASTING OPP BUR FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 18, 1909.

Patented Nov. 29, 1910.

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ROBERT W. GORMLY, OF TROY, NEW YORK.

CASTING-OFF BUR FOB CIRCULAR-KNITTING MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. Nov. 29, 1910.

Application filed January 18, 1909. Serial No. 472,799.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ROBERT W. GoRMLY, of the city of Troy, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Casting-Off Burs for Circular-Knitting Machines and in the Method of Their Use, of which invention the following description, in connection with the accompanying sheet of drawings, constitutes a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in the construction and mode of use of the bur which is used on rotary knitting machines equipped with stationary spring needles for casting the old loop off over the head of the needle and consequently over the yarn held under the barb of the needle, which by virtue of this casting-off operation is converted into a new loop.

That part of the invention relating to the construction of the bur itself comprises means for facilitating the assemblage of the parts which collectively go to make up the complete operative bur, also improved means for clamping the bur blades edgewise and to take up wear if they become loose edgewise, and means for securing absolute concentricity of the operative edges of the blades in service.

Another part of the invention relates to provisions which cooperate with the needles to slightly spring them radially out of their orbit just at the instant when the old loop is being cast off by the bur-blade, whereby enough tension is put on the yarn which has been fed in to form the new course of loops to draw each loop taut, thereby evening up any irregularity in the lay of the feed thread. as it extends loop by loop from needle to needle and producing a closer, more even and compact texture of fabric.

The invention is fully disclosed in the drawing in which Figure 1 shows an edge elevation of one of these improved burs in which one half is shown in axial section. Fig. 2 shows in plan such a bur in its operative relation to the needles. Fig. 3 is an elevation of a vertical radial section through the needle cylinder and shows the operative relation of the blades of the bur with the deflected needle of the cylinder at the instant the old loop is knocked over the new one. In this figure only one of the blades is shown. Fig. 4 shows a front elevation of the bur and needles showing the casting ofi point on the up per edges of the blades as indicated by the dotted line 19. Fig. 5 is a detail of a detached blade. Fig. 6 is a partial inverted plan of the two disks on which the blades are mounted. Fig. 7 is an axial section of the blade-disk and shows in section the blade-centering V-shaped groove 13 and the nature and depth of the blade slots 14..

The knitting machines to which this in vention is applicable are of the ordinary style for knitting plain cloth in which leaded spring needles are mounted on and clamped to a needle cylinder or ring which is adapted to be rotated in the well known manner. Such mechanism is shown on an enlarged scale in Fig. 3 and is too well understood by knitters to require description. One condit-ion, however, should be observed, which is, that the stem of the needles should project sufficiently above the leads or clamping devices which hold them that they may be sprung or deflected outwardly slightly without leaving them bent or distorted, as this outward radial bending of the heads of the needles is a functional movement whereby the evening up of the loops is effected. All the constituent parts of this bur are shown in Fig. 1. They consist of a central cylindrical hub 21 flanged as at 10 at its bottom end, and having its upper part threaded as at 23 to receive the screw-threaded flanged clamping nut 19. Next above and adjacent to'the shoulder 22 of the flange 10, is the deflecting flange-clamp 11. This member is a disk with a plane upper surface having a hub to bear against the shoulder 22 of hub 21. This clamp should be made of material which is incapable of being upset or indented by the under edges of the blades, hardened steel being well adapted to the purpose, but possibly other hard material might answer. I do not restrict myself in this particular to hardened steel although that is preferred.-

The outer periphery of this deflecting disk is wrought to a thin edge as seen in Fig. 3 to bear against the back side of the needles as they pass by it. The blade-disk is shown at 12, and between this disk and the defleeting disk 11, is a plane disk 16, of which its periphery is slotted with diagonal grooves 17 as seen in Fig. 6, which slots receive the tail stems of the blades as in Fig. 1. Next above and contiguous to this plane disk is the blade-disk 12.v The under side of this disk is chambered about the depth of the thickness of disk 16 which it receives, and

' is shown at 15',

near its periphery is: a; cbacentric','yggh pea groove 13, which is providedto eceive a correspondingly V-shaped centering spur d, of each blade. One of the casting-off blades Fig. 5, and each is punched out from steel plate and all are therefore exactly alike, having the" shoulder b, which enters and is held inone of the diagonal slots 24, of the blade disk, the centering spur (Z, which finds aseatin the groove 13, the" flats c, and e, which find bearing against the under sideof the blade-disk, and the convex bottom edge a, which in service contacts with'the upper side of the deflecting flange 11. These blades are hardened to resist wear and to fortify them against being upset or otherwise injured. They are held in place by-screwingdown the clamping disk 19, of

' which the flange l8 bearsupon the upper v the hollow hub under edges of the blades and 5;

sideof the blade disk 12, the upper part of V 21 being screw-threaded for that purpose. Thus the blades are held firmly gripped between the under side of the blade disk 12 where it bears against the pointsc, and e, and the upper side of the deflectingdisk 11 where it bears against the as at a, Figs. 1

In making burs of this class heretofore it has been a common practice to clamp the blades by their edges between plates, surfaces or jaws made of brass, bronze, wrought or cast iron or other relatively soft material. Vhere such material is used for this purpose, experience shows that after protracted service the edges of the blades by contact with the clamping devices or jaws will upset or wear into the softer metal and thus become loose and their working edges will wear out of proper position or alinement. But with this improved construction where the blades. are hardened and one of the clamping flanges is alsohardened so that these contacting parts will retaintheir shape in service, and the opposite edges of the blades contact with a clamping device or flange whichis softer than the niaterial of the blades, if constant use tends to the upsetting or wear of any of the contacting parts thesofter metal will yield to the action. of the harder, and in this case the bearing points .0, and e, of the blades will impress themselves upon the under side of the bladedisk 12, but the blades resting on the upper side. of the flange 11 will not be afi'ected by centric position ofthe blades, and will secure binding contact between the bearing points c, and e, of the blades with the under side of the blade disk.

The operative relation between the deflecting flange edge and the needles, whereby the loops of the fabric are evened up and the texture compactly knit, is shown in Fig. 2, 3 and 4. The bur is mounted to revolve on astud 9 which project-s from a bracket 20, Fig. 3, which bracket is mounted on any suitable support and is provided with any means for adjusting the bracket 20 radially or to and from the needles. As such means are common and well known to knitters they are not here specifically defined. In aractice the. bur is set so that the edge of ange 11 well bear against the backside of the needles and at the highest tangential point will deflect their heads outwardly from their normal vertical position as at 72., Fig. 3, to the position 7), same figure. The vertical adjustment of the bur is arranged so that theupper edge of each blade will cast off its old loop just at the moment that the needle is sprung out to its limit. The cooperative action of lifting the old loop to the casting-oft point while the rotation of the bur is deflecting the upper part of the needle and casting off the old loop at the instant the needle has reached its greatest limit of deflection, operates to equa ize the tension on the feed thread from needle to needle, the outspring of each needle from its normal path operating to draw each loop taut and to pick up and dispose of all uneven slack in the yarn after is has been fed to the needles. v

In the machine hereinabove described the means provided for deflecting the tops of the needles pending the casting-off operation consist of the periphery of a disk which forms a constituent member of the bur and revolves therewith, but this is only the pre ferred form of this part of the invention. As to this part of my invention its essence resides broadly in obtaining a more compact. and evenly knit texture by the deflection of the tops of the needles concurrently with the casting off of the loops of the last course over the heads of the needles and the new feed thread, however and by whatsoever means this may be done. It is the springing of the needle out of its orbit at a specific point in its'rotation whereby the loops are successively stretched which accomplishes the improvement.

, I therefore claim as my invention and desire to secure by-Letters Patent the followm In a circular knitting machine of the class described, a casting ofl bur, and means for causing the radial deflection from its orbit of the head of each successive needle eraser Q While the old loop is being cast off by the casting off bur, substantially as specified.

2. In a circular knitting machine employing fixed spring needles and burs for feed ing the yarn and for casting 011, the combination with said needles of a device for radially deflecting the needle heads outwardly during the casting-olf operation, substantially as specified.

3. In a circular knitting machine equipped with a single series of fixed spring needles, the combination with said needles of means for deflecting the heads of said needles outwardly, and means for casting off the old loops at the point of greatest deflection of said needles, substantially as specified.

4. In a circular knitting machine of the class described, the combination of a series of fixed spring needles, a casting-off bur provided with a concentric deflector adapted to bear against the back side of the needles and spring them outwardly as the cylinder revolves, substantially in the manner described and for the purposes specified.

5. In a circular knitting machine of the class described, the combination of a series of spring needles, a casting-off bur provided with a concentric deflector adapted to bear against the back side of the needles and spring them outwardly as the cylinder revolves, and to cast off the old loops concurrently with the greatest deflection of the needles, substantially as specified.

(3. A knitting machine bur consisting of a tubular hub upon which are arranged two concentric clamping disks, an intermediate blade-disk, a series of blades connected with said blade-disk, means on the blade disk for maintaining concentricity of the series of blades and means for clamping said blades between said blade disk and one of the clamping disks, substantially as specified.

7. The combination in a bur for circular knitting machines, of a hollow hub flanged at one end and screw-threaded at the other, a removable hardened blade-clamping disk, having a projecting hub resting upon the flanged portion of the first named hub, a blade-carrying disk of material softer than said clamping disk, blades mounted on said blade-disk with their upper edges bearing against the under side thereof, and a nut to screw onto said hub for clamping said members together, substantially as specified.

8. The combination in a casting-off bur of a blade-disk and blades, two clamping disks disposed one on each side of the edges of the blades, the under disk and the blades being harder than the member opposed to the upper edges of the blades, and means for clamping the several members together, as a provision for maintaining a constant operative position for the upper edges of the blades in relation to the heads of the needles, and an auxiliary disk interposed between the blade disk and the under disk and having an interlocking connection with the blades, substantially as specified.

9. In a knitting machine bur the combination of oppositely disposed clamping disks an interposed blade-disk provided with a concentric V-shaped groove in one of its sides and radial slots about its periphery to receive the burblades, with a series of burblades each of which is formed with a V- shaped centering spur adapted to beseated in said V-shaped groove, and said clamp disks acting to' confine said blades in their respective radial slots with said spurs in said groove, and an intermediate disk interposed between the blade disk and one of aid clamping disks, substantially as speciied.

10. In a circular knitting machine of the class described, the combination of a series of spring needles, and a casting-0H1 bur provided with a concentric deflector adapted to bear against the back side of the needles to deflect the same outwardly, and means for supporting a plurality of blades upon said deflector, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

11. In a knitting machine, a bur consisting of a tubular hub upon which are arranged two concentric clamping disks, one of which constitutes a deflecting flange, an intermediate blade disk, and a series of blades connected with said blade disk, and means for maintaining concentricity for a series of blades.

In testimony whereof, I have hereto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT W. GORMLY.

Witnesses:

H. G. MOEWAN, JAs. E. WALSH. 

